


Cingulomania | DreamNotFound

by SamGoesBam



Category: DSMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), mcyt
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Angst, Battle, DNF, Dream/George, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Fluff, Flustered GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Monsters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possible Character Death, Possibly Unrequited Love, Third Wheel Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), To Be Continued, Whump, Work In Progress, dreamnotfound, dreamwastaken - Freeform, no beta we die like George in the manhunts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28474746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamGoesBam/pseuds/SamGoesBam
Summary: George, an experienced wizard is asked to help defend the Kingdom of Neverpoint from vicious monster attacks. Though he wasn't the only one called in by the ruler Eret, eighteen other adventurers and mercenaries got the same letter he did. One of them was a skilled fighter, one of the best George had ever seen... and he just so happened to be really cute.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 33
Kudos: 127





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please keep in mind that these aren't the real streamers but their personas. If either of the CC's say they are uncomfortable with this type of fanfic I will not hesitate to take it down. This story also isn't 100% planned out yet so the tags could change in the future.

George sat against the mast of a large river boat sliding his finger across the letter in his hand as he read it for the fifth time. It was from one of the most powerful rulers in the realm, he never thought anyone like this would even acknowledge him if they were in the same room. In fact, he never thought he would be in the same room as someone of such high class. How did ruler Eret even come to hear about George? _I mean, I suppose I’ve saved a few towns here and there._ He thought, but they were barely known towns with the most mundane citizens, and he didn’t do it 100% by himself. 

The letter explained briefly that the kingdom of Neverpoint was under siege, being bombarded by irregular monsters for such an area. It stated that eighteen of the best mercenaries and adventurers have been contacted for assistance in defending the kingdom. Eret is currently in Neverpoint directing the defense. They wrote that anyone willing to come will be rewarded by the end, and all rations and shelter will be provided in the meantime. It sounded pretty fair to George. 

He’d already been traveling for two days to reach Neverpoint and intended to make it by midday. He sought passage on ships and rafts down river nearly the entire way, using the time to prepare spells and count recently found gold. He hadn’t slept much during the journey for fear of being robbed by his company. Surely I’ll have time to sleep before any patrolling begins. Or at least he hoped. 

An interesting looking man stepped onto the riverboat clad in black cloth and plate armor. An extremely noticeable sheathed sword hung at his side, all George could see was the handle, from which he could tell was of peak quality. The man might have seemed intimidating to most people, but George knew that just one fireball spell would heat up the armor enough to cook the man alive. 

_Oh hells, he just looked at me, I don’t have a fireball right now._ The man started walking over and George wondered if he stared at him wrong, but he grins. 

  
“Hello, mind if I sit?” George nods, surprised by the politeness of such a scary looking person. “I’m Sapnap,” he held his hand out to shake.  
  
“George.” _Never heard a name quite like Sapnap before.  
_  
“I couldn’t help but notice the seal on your letter, the symbol of ruler Eret.” George tensed up. _Does he think I’m someone important? I better not get mugged for this._ “We’re also going the same way, I just figured you were one of the eighteen.” Sapnap revealed a letter of his own from Eret.  
  
“Oh, yes I am. It’s a relief that you are too,” George said.  
  
“Why’s that?”  
  
“Never mind,” George paused, “what do you specialize in?”  
  
“I’m just a soldier. Apparently skilled enough to be a part of an elite defense force,” Sapnap barely believed it as he said it out loud. “You?”  
  
“I dabble in magic, spellcasting.”  
  
“I assumed so.”  
  
“What do you mean, you assumed so?”  
  
“No weapons, large supply bag with a book corner sticking out… not to mention the lack of armor,” Sapnap was basically telling him he didn’t look like a fighter, that he looked weak. Everyone always underestimated his battle abilities until they saw his magic in action.  
  
“Fair enough.” The boat began floating downriver. In total there were four passengers including George and Sapnap, making it very quiet. If they were going to talk about the invasion of neverpoint, they’d have to be weary of what they said.  
  
“I heard nearly half of the soldiers there have been wiped out or incapacitated,” sapnap said.  
  
“Where did you hear that?” George thought the situation was being kept a secret. _Why would it be?_  
  
“News spreads quickly when it’s about such a significant kingdom,” Sapnap explained. George agreed, but what if other enemy forces caught wind of the situation? The kingdom would be weakened and right for the taking. _Or maybe I’m just thinking like my family._  
  
“How long have you been traveling?” George asked.  
  
“Just started today, I was staying in Dalhurst not too far back.” George nodded and turned his head to the water. It carried them flawlessly for a few hours before getting stuck on the riverbank. Only a minor setback. Another hour of smooth sailing in and they stuck again. This time George and Sapnap had to push the boat from the bank while the others used oars to dislodge it.  


The water was cold, and woke George up a little more when he got splashed. He could have been reading spells, but he didn’t feel like his brain could take anymore for a while. Instead he watched the trees dance by and felt the boat swaying him. Which might have been a mistake since he felt himself getting drowsier by the second. 

  
“Shouldn’t be far now,” Sapnap said, noticing the bored look on George’s face.  
  
“Good, I can’t sit here much longer,” George rummages through his backpack for a bite to eat, thinking it would keep him occupied for a while. Sapnap follows suit, though he doesn’t appear to have much for rations with him.  
  
“Do you have food to eat?” George asked.  
  
“Enough.”  
  
“I have spare,” he offered.  
  
“That’s alright, rations are being covered in Neverpoint anyways, I don’t need any,” Sapnap insisted. George shrugged and dug into his bread and jerky. He put his bag behind his back as extra support and waited patiently to see the gates of Neverpoint ahead.  
  
  
  


They arrived in Neverpoint half an hour later. There were guards posted at the river entrance, they had to check the river boat over before letting the passengers leave. _Not that there’s much room to hide anyone in that thing,_ George thought. Or at least, he assumed they were checking for stowaways, spies, enemies. Sapnap and George had to show the guards their letters from Eret to be let inside. Who knows whether the other few passengers got inside the walls or not. 

George didn’t know the kingdom of Neverpoint, didn’t know how to navigate, and only knew to look for the castle. Sapnap was slightly more familiar but it would still take time to find the right roads. The streets weren’t empty like George thought they would be either. He figured everyone would be trying to stay inside as much as possible. Though it didn’t seem to be an issue getting through the crowds. 

Sapnap noticed people dodging out of their way, wondering if they were being polite or afraid of outsiders. A guard patrolling the kingdom then stopped them in the middle of the road. 

  
“Do you have a weapons permit?” The guard asked.  
  
“We’re here as backup defense for the kingdom,” Sapnap told him, and pulled out the letter from his pocket.  
  
“You both are?” The guard looked George up and down.  
  
“Yes,” George said sternly. The guard chuckled, which made George’s cheeks heat up.  
  
“I can take you to the castle, you’re going the long way,” he offered. George was about to decline but Sapnap spoke first.  
  
“That’d be helpful, thanks.”  
  
  
  


The castle, which they could see when they first entered, looked more imposing now that they were up close. The dark stone of it’s walls gave it an eerie feel that matched the shining portcullis. Looks like the kind of castle my family would have lived in, George shook his head and forced the thought out. He left them for good reason, he needed to let go already. 

The inside of the castle did not match it’s external appearance. It was bright and well decorated, murals, chandeliers, and they had barely stepped ten feet inside. Sapnap was visibly impressed and looked around as they walked. The guard told them to head down the left hallway until they found the ballroom. Not that George knew exactly what a ballroom looked like, but he could make an educated guess. 

Eventually they found it, a large group of people inside turned to look at them but quickly went back to chatting amongst themselves. George scanned the room and was relieved to have spotted a few other wizards. The majority of the people in there had multiple weapons strapped to their backs and sides, he even noticed a few with extravagant armor like Sapnap’s. Most of the people who were supposed to be there had already arrived, yet the massive room still looked empty. 

  
“No way,” Sapnap gasped next to George.  
  
“What is it?” George followed his gaze to a figure standing alone across the room. He wore dark green clothes and light armor made of a metal George didn’t recognise. The man had two swords on his back and the finest pair of boots George had ever seen. Though that’s not what really intrigued him. It was the mask he wore. Plain white with a simple black smiley face on it. Even with the silly mask on he looked intimidating.  


_And hot._ George thought, and realized how inappropriate it was. He might be fighting alongside this man, he couldn’t get distracted by his perfect hair… muscled build… confident stance. 

  
“That’s an old friend of mine, I can’t believe it!” Sapnap exclaimed. He waved and caught the man’s attention, who seemed to perk up at the sight of him. George followed Sapnap to go greet whoever this was.  
  
“Sapnap! It’s been a while hasn’t it? I wondered if you’d be here.” _I can appreciate a nice voice._  
  
“Dream, it never crossed my mind that they’d pick you too,” Sapnap and Dream shared a hug that was long overdue. “This is George, I met him on my way here.”  
  
“Nice to meet you,” Dream held out his hand. _Dream suits him_  
  
“You too.” They shook. George collected himself, he couldn’t afford to be embarrassed already. Especially not in front of all of these professionals. He almost asked about Dream’s mask but decided against it. _How does he see? Did he lose an eye or something?_ George caught himself staring and turned away. Sapnap and Dream started talking again while George observed the other adventurers in the room. There were a mix of elves and humans mostly, some must have been druids because they had animal ears and features.  
  
“Hello everyone.” A deep voice erupted from the doorway. Ruler Eret had arrived with the rest of the adventurers. Eret made their way to the center of the ballroom to address everyone around them.  
  
“Let me start by saying that I could never thank you enough for coming here on such short notice, to defend a kingdom and its people that have never done anything for you. What you are doing is honorable and when we emerge victorious it will be your names on these castle walls. None of you had to come, but seeing that so many of you did fuels me with confidence. Clearly we have a group of virtuous, dedicated individuals and I’m sure that even with very few of you we can rid Neverpoint of these monsters.” Eret paused and frowned before continuing.  
  
“Something I hadn’t mentioned in your letters, is that this isn’t an infestation so much as a war,” George felt the room’s energy shift, he was unsure of exactly what Eret was saying. “A man by the name of Jschlatt has declared war upon Neverpoint. I have no information on him, his army, his plans, anything. All I got was a warning by messenger… who immediately offed himself after we spoke.” George wasn’t sure if much had changed after hearing this news, he still wanted to be here, he still wanted to help.  
  
“Why not say that in the letters? I didn’t think I was getting into something so big,” One of the wizards spoke.  
  
“For as much secrecy as possible,” Eret replied.  
  
“So what does this mean then? Are you asking us to help you gather information too?” Someone from George’s right asked, a man with fox ears.  
  
“Not exactly. I ask that you fill out a report after every patrol, and share any information you happen to collect, but your main focus is just to defend the kingdom,” Eret replied.  
  
“And the expenses of our equipment’s upkeep?”  
  
“Covered along with your food and housing.” The fox-eared man seemed satisfied with Eret’s response and grinned.  
  
“Patrols will be eight hours long in groups of three, two groups each third of the day. There is already extra equipment in each of your barracks. Reminder, if you are injured don’t be stubborn, come back. We can’t risk losing any of you,” Eret explained. “I’ll lead you to your rooms, your schedule and patrolling areas are on the tables.” George appreciated the quick and easy explanation, he was getting antsy hearing about all of the fighting and injury.  
  
“Dream, George, you guys wanna stick together?” Sapnap asked. Dream didn’t hesitate.  
  
“Sure.” But George did. _With Dream? How fantastic._ Despite being nervous George answered anyway.  
  
“Sure.”  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first fight of the patrol doesn't go so smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comments on chapter 1 were very nice, much appreciated! If you have any ideas or feedback feel free to share. This one was a lot of fun to write.

The rooms were small and the beds were close together. Just as Eret promised, there were parchments with maps sitting on the table. They had the shift from midnight to morning. (12am - 8am), which Sapnap wasn’t too thrilled about. George didn’t mind a whole lot since he at least had a chance to rest before then. Dream was happy with it, he was used to being up at such times anyways. They had another few hours to kill and George knew what he’d be doing. He didn’t even bother unpacking much before slumping onto the bed. 

Sapnap and Dream stopped talking when they heard him fall onto the mattress. He heard a chuckle from each of them but paid it no attention, sleep was looking pretty good right then and he wasn’t waiting. 

  
“Geoooooorge,” Dream stretched his name in a way that made George almost anxious. “We’re gonna explore the kingdom, maybe meet some of the others. You wanna come?”  
  
“No thank you,” he mumbled, muffled by his pillow, trying to hide the childish smile on his face.  
  
“You sure?”  
  
“Positive.” Though he did want to meet the others and learn the layout of the city, it wasn’t as important as being able to perform well in battle later. Sapnap shrugged and dragged Dream through the door. He heard it close followed by a click. In a few minutes George’s mind started getting cloudy, he felt light, and he started dreaming.  


When George woke up again Sapnap and Dream still weren’t back, which was a relief considering he woke up startled from a nightmare. Usually he remembered them right after but this time he didn't. He just knew that something scared him, and it had to do with his family. Which was strange, since they weren’t scary people, they weren’t even all that mean. George shook it off and fell back asleep, not even bothering to look outside to see what time it was. He was counting on Dream and Sapnap to wake him up when they came back. 

The two walked back in half an hour before their patrol was supposed to start. They only woke George up ten minutes before. Sapnap did so by pelting him with a pillow. George grumbled a curse and showed him the middle finger. 

  
“Time to go slaughter some beasts,” Sapnap yelled right next to George.  
  
“Oh my gods you're loud,” George groaned.  
  
“We’re just excited,” Dream said. _Excited to get into dangerous, life threatening battles? Good to know I at least have brave companions._  


Dream strapped on his metal bracers and tightened his cloak before picking up his small shoulder bag. When he had his back turned to George it revealed his two swords, one black with intricate jet and ruby inlay, the other snow white with silver and ruby inlay. George always thought that if he was a fighter he’d only use one sword so he could have a shield, maybe Dream was just dexterous. Sapnap didn’t have a shield, and he only had a single sword which made George wonder how experienced he really was. Maybe he was also really agile, guess he was about to find out. 

George grabbed his bag of holding from under the bed and double checked to make sure all of his scrolls and potions were in there. He reached in and pulled out his belt of wands, which only had two on it at the moment. Sapnap noticed George pulling an absurd amount of things out of the tiny satchel and seemed pretty impressed. 

  
“That’s amazing,” Sapnap came up beside him to peek inside.  
  
“It’s extremely useful for a wizard like me,” George said, showing Sapnap all of the books and magic items. “It alway weighs the same amount no matter what you put in, and you can fit a lot inside.”  


The group set out to find their section of land for patrolling. They exited the city through the north entrance and the guards there wished them good luck. Dream already had his two swords out, and Sapnap had his too. George held nothing in his hands, he’d be able to whip a wand out if he needed to. 

Dream had suggested George stay back and cast spells while he and Sapnap got up close for melee combat. It annoyed George but he also knew it was a good idea, except he was worried that if he ended up having to use a powerful spell, he’d hit his party. The strongest spell he had prepared was Cone Of Cold and it could potentially take out either of them if hit full on. He’d just have to wait and see what happens. 

Once they got into the open plains surrounding the kingdom it started getting more interesting. They moved slowly and quietly, only being able to see a short distance in the dark. George was using a light cantrip to illuminate the way as best as he could, which meant he was in the lead. Dream walked nearly next to him, and Sapnap watched their backs. 

They walked too long without hearing anything, it made George uneasy like they had missed everything. _Are we just being silently stalked?_

  
The answer was yes.  
  
“GUYS, up!” Sapnap yelled.  
  
“SHI-” George felt himself lift off the ground, sparks of pain crawled through his shoulders and upper back. He couldn’t move his arms, they were being held in place by something digging into his skin through his cloak. He heard Dream shout but he didn’t have time to pay attention to what was happening on the ground. He twisted his palm to shine on whatever was carrying him higher. Looking down at him was the head of a gargantuan eagle, the size of an elephant, maybe bigger.  


George let out a cry as the bird launched him into the air, it’s talons ripping out of his skin. He found himself plummeting towards the open beak of the eagle, with not much time to think. Despite his arms being stiff and sore, George flailed his hands in chaotic rhythm and spoke in magical tongue. He shot his fingers out in front of him, releasing a bolt of spectacular energy down the creature's throat, followed by another quick one to the front of the beak, and then to the eye. The eagle swooped away from him and he started falling past it. George flattened himself into a star as he fell and concentrated on saying a spell as perfectly as he could. 

Normally he loved the feeling of raging winds, normally he loved the dark, normally he loved birds, normally none of those things were bringing him closer to death. He tried to find peace in the blackness of the sky, but it wasn’t really working. He tried to feel refreshed by the frigid air. George took a deep breath and put his mind to work. 

The last word of the incantation slid off his tongue, he finished not-so-confidently and prayed to the gods that he said everything right. George felt the rush of wind weaken but couldn’t see the ground anymore, his light spell ended. The wind was still strong but he knew he had slowed down a little more. _I might just make it._ The feather falling spell took full effect. George was drifting back down to the ground, but heard a screech off in the distance. He used his light cantrip again, his hand glowed and he pointed it all around him, catching another mega bird in the eyes, this one a vulture. 

He’d lost track of where the eagle went, but this was his concern now. He knew he was getting closer to his friends again, he could hear them yelling. George pulled his wand of webs from his belt and prepared to shoot one at the vulture, it was diving at him, so he aimed for the most visible wing. The web spread out in front of him like a hand, and all he saw was the bird’s shadow drop and heard it’s call receding below him. He cheered in his head, until more wings flapped behind him. 

Whatever was about to rip George apart, got shot down by someone on the ground. It screamed in George’s ears making them ring, but he was just glad someone got it off his back. He listened for any more signs of monster-birds but only heard Sapnap and Dream, yelling to him. 

  
“George?!” Sapnap saw George’s luminescent hand. “He’s there.” Sapnap’s sword was emitting light now, in fact, as they closed in George saw that it was flaming. He also noticed another bird's body on the ground behind them.  
  
“You guys alright?” George asked from a few feet up.  
  
“You just got tossed around like a hacky sack by a mutant eagle, and you're asking if we’re okay?” Dream reached up to help George down. He touched one of his shoulders and gasped at the blood pouring out.  
  
“It’s not that bad, I can fix it in a few minutes,” George mumbled, embarrassed that he was the only one who got hurt.  
  
“I have two healing potions, you should use one,” Dream insisted.  
  
“I just need to get to my herbs, then we won't have to waste it,” George groaned trying to get his bag off, Dream stepped behind him to help while Sapnap sat him down.  
  
“I saw you up there shooting magic at those things, it was pretty impressive,” Sapnap said.  
  
“Must have taken a lot of concentration to stay calm and cast like that,” Dream agreed. George smiled, wishing it was dark again so they couldn’t see him blushing. _Not many people are impressed by me._ George held pressure on the wounds for a little bit with the help of Sapnap. Once they stopped enough he began mixing the medicine.  
  
“You’re not going to be able to get the dressing on your back, I’ll do it,” Dream held out his hand for George to put some fresh make-shift gauze on it. George would have rather done it himself, but he knew Dream was right, and he appreciated the help. Dream took a cloth and moistened it with water to clean the blood away. He could feel George tensing under his hands, and tried to be more gentle. But being gentle wasn’t the problem. _Oh my gods he’s…_ George caught himself before making it more awkward then it had to be. _Dream is just being helpful, this isn’t weird._  


George washed the front wounds off and began to apply the dressing, it stung but he kept quiet. Sapnap’s sword was still flaming, providing light but also a strong smoky smell. George wondered if it would attract more monsters or not. 

  
“How much blood do you think you lost?” Sapnap asked.  
  
“Enough to make me feel a little sick, but really, it’s okay.” Dream and Sapnap exchanged worried looks but trusted George’s judgement.  
  
“All done,” Dream said, “You have something to put over that?” George pointed to a few patches of cloth that they could stick to the dressing. Dream picked a few up and gently pressed them on, smoothing it across George’s back, who had to manually stop himself from shivering. He then walked around the log George sat on to kneel and front of him, and help with the front patches. Sapnap continued to be on high alert, this wouldn’t be an optimal time to get ambushed.  


Once Dream and George were done with the wounds, they stayed in that spot for a few minutes to let the dressing dry more. Once it did they were off again. Dream and Sapnap kept an eye on their friend, and it annoyed him, being watched like a kid. He understood their concern however, and started to feel a little touched by it in the end. 

George used his light spell again, but didn’t hold his arm out as much. Dream was using some kind of nature-survivalist-trick to figure out roughly what time it was, George didn’t know how a person could tell just from the position of the moon, but Dream insisted that they had only been out for an hour and a half. _Six and a half hours of fighting with achy shoulders left to go, what a damn blessing._

  
  
  
  


They walked mostly in silence to hear the things around them, the only exception was Sapnap or Dream checking on George. After another hour in the pitch dark the team had managed to take down a few easy foes, a small pack of Kobolds. George watched from afar, the others slaughtered them within a few minutes. He was also getting groggier by the minute and wasn’t sure they did a good enough job on his shoulders, but it could have also been the lack of sleep. Either way he said nothing. It wasn’t until Sapnap noticed the unsteadiness in George’s step that they decided to take another break. 

  
“Why didn’t you say it was getting worse?” Sapnap scolded.  
  
“I didn’t realize,” George rolled his shoulders, wincing slightly. He reached into his bag and pulled out a healing potion of his own to take. It tasted like grapefruit mixed with hot sauce. It burned all the way down his throat. Moments after, he felt the pain go away almost completely. Nobody liked using healing potions unless they had to, this seemed like a waste to George, but he had to be able to fight to his full abilities.  
  
“I’m sure we can get more potions from Eret,” Dream said.  
  
“Hopefully.”  


As they continued George could hold his hand up better for the light, and he felt good about casting spells with intricate arm movements. All was looking good. George was almost hoping for another big battle, just so he could redeem himself. But everyone knows the saying. **Careful what you wish for.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George is starting to question himself again after months of being okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> POSSIBLE TWs: Monsters killing themselves, self doubt, torture.  
> Violence heavy-ish. Fighting and gore.  
> George having a tough time for the first time in a while.  
> A couple of angsty sort of paragraphs in there, got carried away :)

The group wandered across a shallow river, noticing a cave on the other side. From their position it looked like nothing more than an indent in a cliff, but it was hard to tell. They figured it was something that should be looked at, who knew what creatures could have been holed up in there hiding. The only thing about going into the cave was that space could be limited. Dream moved around a lot when he fought, he relied on space to dodge and counterattack. Whereas Sapnap relied on the strength of his armor, he didn’t really dodge so much as brace for impact. George would be okay, he just couldn’t cast spells like fireball, the flames would engulf the entire cave. 

The entrance was small and irregular unlike the inside. It looked like someone had hollowed out the side of the cliff with magic, it was smooth and perfectly square. Not natural at all. They wondered if Eret had a few outposts with supplies in it for the guards but he didn’t mention anything like that. 

Dream insisted on going in first when it got narrow, there was room for two to walk side by side. Sapnap beat George to it, leaving him to walk behind the two fighters down a corridor. There were sconces for torches as they got further, and rooms with the doors cracked open. It looked as though someone had broken in a long time ago. There were no noises apart from the occasional scuttling of a rat and the clank of Sapnap’s armor. They checked each room they passed, all completely empty. Until they made it to one door that was still intact. 

Sapnap almost walked right in but Dream stuck a hand out to stop him. Dream put his ear to the door to listen, he cast a smirk at Sapnap and gestured to the door, a silent suggestion that he should enter first. Sapnap rolled his eyes, truly believing that Dream would warn him before letting him go in if there was some kind of creature inside. He was wrong. 

Sapnap casually walked in, he yelped upon making eye contact with a grey-skinned and armed humanoid. There was a group of them sitting in the room playing a game of dragonchess. They looked just as surprised as Sapnap was. When they lept into action, pulling out short swords and crossbows, Sapnap slammed the door shut again. 

  
“What in the nine hells Dream?!” Sapnap fumed. Dream let out a breathy wheeze and readied his swords for battle, attempting to contain his amusement. George wasn’t impressed but since Sapnap didn’t instantly get stabbed, it was a little funny. He too prepared for the door to open.  


One of the humanoids kicked the door wide open and charged out, barely taking the time to see who he was about to barrel into. Dream, being the closest at this point took on the full force of the creature coming at him. It knocked him over and tried to cut Sapnap’s head off, who activated the fire of his sword. With slightly better lighting they could see clearly that the creatures piling out of the room were orcs, and they were irritated. 

  
“Aw did we interrupt your go-fish tournament?” Sapnap quipped. He dueled with the first orc in the narrow hall. The other orcs weren’t wasting any time getting out of the room, they trampled over Sapnap and the orc to get to Dream and George.  
  
“We should get into the open!” George yelled, sliding a wand out of his belt.  
“Go, now!” Dream agreed, he had to push a few orcs off of Sapnap while simultaneously avoiding getting cut open. They pushed their way through a flurry of fists and dull blades to get into an open area. Emerging each with some small cuts.  


There was no time to really wait for his friends to get beside him, so as they we’re sprinting down the last corridor, a mob of orcs behind them, George pointed his wand. He was relying on his friends' athletic abilities, because if they didn’t react fast enough, he’d catch them in the spell. Dream recognized what was in George’s hand and sped up to give him space. He passed Sapnap gracefully and stopped behind George, swords at the ready. George couldn’t wait anymore. 

  
“Sapnap!” George yelled at him as he thrust his wand forward. A flurry of white, sticky strands sprung from the tip. Sapnap rolled underneath. The strands stretched, flexed, and swaddled the orc gang. Creating a wall of white and orcs, blocking the hallway. George had caught all but two of them in a web spell. They grunted and groaned struggling against the tight binds.  
  
“You’re gonna get it, fleshbags,” one of the orcs growled and hopped over it’s group. Dream chuckled. The orc lashed out at Sapnap, but it’s shortsword bounced off of his armor. Before attacking the orc back, he gave it a mocking wink. Sapnap ducked another high slice, and cut the orcs legs out from under it, while it was on the ground he thrust the tip of his sword into its heart. The other orc that hadn’t been caught let out a throaty roar, but a spark of light shot down the hallway square into its forehead. It was dead before it could squeal. Everyone turned to George who made a show of blowing imaginary smoke from the top of his wand.  
  
“We should interrogate them, they might know something,” Dream whispered.  
  
“You think they’d tell us anything?” George asked.  
  
“Oh they will… if we just use advanced techniques,” Sapnap smirked.  
  
“We’re not going to torture them!”  
  
“Shhhh! Don’t let them hear George.”  
  
“We can pretend we’re going to, orcs aren’t the smartest anyway they’ll probably just slip up and spill,” Dream reasoned.  
  
“Not to mention unloyal, they’ll tell.”  
  
“Okay fine just, don’t do anything cruel,” George agreed reluctantly. Torture was never something he agreed with, no matter who it was. One of the things your parents hated about you. George shook his head to focus on something other than the thoughts creeping in. “Who needs morals when you’re rich, son?”  


George watched from the side as Dream and Sapnap strode over. Dream didn’t usually think torture was a bad idea if it came to it, but seeing how George reacted made him rethink it. For him it was always what got the job done, if it works it works. Dream knew that George was a better person though, he’d grown a soft spot for him and didn’t like to see him so uneasy. 

  
“Alright listen up you dirty lumps of manticore scat,” Sapnap started eloquently, “we want information and I’ve had a long day, so it is not the time to screw around.” The orcs kept squirming and mumbling, but they looked up at Sapnap. “What do you know about Jschlatt? Why are you all here?”  
  
“We’re just passing through, no idea who that is,” the orc directly in front of Sapnap spoke with a condescending tone, which was a bit of a mistake.  
  
“Oh yeah?” Sapnap held his heavy sword to the orcs throat, making George tense up. “Then what’s with all the provisions I saw in that room? You couldn’t carry all of it. You’re obviously staying here.” The orc wasn’t intimidated.  
  
“Dunno what to tell you, we need a lot of supplies, we manage,” the orc sneered at the sword to his throat.  
  
“Maybe I’m not being clear enough,” Sapnap activated the fire of his sword, the orange tendrils flicking up to the tip, under the orcs jaw, “If you don’t start talking we’re gonna be sniffing burning orc flesh.”  
  
“Listen it's a long story-” the orc started.  
  
“Oh no, see, we need info and there’s about seven of you to get through, so I don’t have time to waste, be quick and simple.” The orc was getting uncomfortable with his throat being cooked, he began to wonder how long he’d be able to stall. Dream stood emotionless, not wanting to give anything about himself away yet, he even hid his swords behind his back. He turned to look at George who was cross armed, leaning against the wall, brow furrowed.  
  
“All I got for you is a sword through the ribs when I get outta here,” the orc threatened.  
  
“Sorry George,” Sapnap turned to his friend, “I’m not in the mood to play nice.” Sapnap made sure that when he sliced the orc’s head off he didn't cut any of the web. He did it a little slower than necessary, but relatively smoothly. It was a fetid smell.  


When George refocused on Sapnap and the orc, he saw the creatures head on the ground, neck charred. George pushed off the stone wall in surprise, he surged towards Sapnap about to grab his sword hand, but Dream stepped in front of him. He was much taller than George, and built much stronger, Dream was a human wall, and he put his hand on George’s chest to push him back. 

  
“We would’ve had to kill them anyways,” he whispered.  


George was unimpressed that Dream was letting Sapnap go about it this way, the other orcs looked afraid though, so hopefully they’d say something helpful and not have to suffer like the other one had. A burning sword to the neck, and while being tied up? _I said don’t be cruel. Screw you Sapnap._ George turned away from Dream and leaned against the same wall, facing away from the “interrogation”. Dream respected George’s morality, but couldn’t relate to it. 

  
“You,” Sapnap pointed at another orc with his sword, “spill. Jschlatt.”  
  
“Sounds like a made up person to me,” the creature huffed, and rolled it’s eyes at Sapnap.  
  
“Alright then,” Sapnap sheathed his sword, giving the orcs a false sense of security. He retrieved a very fine, very sharp hand axe from his backpack. “I think I’ll try hacking away at this neck. Much slower, much more fun for me.” Sapnap pulled the axe back ready to swing full force, but the orc gave in.  
  
“Okay! Alright, hold it! We do work for Jschlatt, we-” the orc sputtered, and a glob of blood came up his throat and poured out of his mouth. Sapnap was caught off guard, one orc moved it’s hand just enough to backstab it’s party member. Sapnap audibly cursed, and shook his head in fake disappointment, like a scolding parent. But before being able to take care of the stabber, the orc spoke.  
  
“It's time,” and right after that, it said something in an unknown language. Sapnap stared in confusion and anticipation, as did Dream. The orc that spoke shriveled up in pain, it writhed for a few seconds, and went limp in the webs.  
  
“Oh hells,” Sapnap groaned as the other orcs all rapidly spoke the same words. George turned in time to see the last few orcs crumpling and hissing. Their eyes were burned out and leaking black liquid. George had never seen something like that before.  
  
“That was… disturbing,” Dream broke the silence, “We should get out of here, we searched the rest of this place already.”  
  
“Let’s just check them over, there could be some information on them. Some clues?” Sapnap suggests.  
  
“Smart.”  
  
  
  
  


The only thing on the bodies were black cracked amulets in each of their pockets. George was going to identify what exactly they were with magic, but he could make an educated guess for now that they were what the orcs used to “escape” as Sapnap called it. They left the outpost in a hurry to get away from the ever worsening stench of corpses. Sapnap spoke to George to see if he was angry, but George said it was fine and shut him down. He understood that it’s what they had to do, the orcs were evil. Even if he didn’t like the methods, Sapnap was just getting the job done. Not that we had to. Eret just wants patrols, why are we getting more involved? George thought. 

It took them an hour and a half to explore that outpost, find the orcs, and check the body. Five more hours left of their shift, and it seemed like it should have been over already. They were going to wait an hour before stopping to eat and rest up again, until then it was walking through the dense forest ahead past the cave. George was walking next to Dream, they were talking about what the orcs did, trying to make sense of it. 

  
“I’ve never seen an orc that loyal or determined before,” Dream said.  
  
“Well if it was Schlatt he must have offered them something pretty amazing to convince them all to work for him.”  
  
“I don’t think he offered them anything George, why would they have killed themselves before getting it? Unless they already got it… in which case wouldn’t they just run off with the reward?” Dream made a good point.  
  
“So what then?” George asked, sounding slightly defeated.  
  
“Magic? I don’t know any spells but I’ve had mind control used on me before. I was willing to kill myself for my master’s cause.” George was curious to know more, he’d never been mind controlled, nor had he ever had the chance to do it to someone else, but he figured it was probably a sensitive topic, not worth bringing up right then.  
  
“That would mean he’s an awfully powerful wizard, I don’t know any spells that would work exactly like that, not to mention last so long,” George argued. Dream looked as puzzled as George did, and they walked on in silence for a while.  


If he weren’t so on edge, George would be enjoying the moonlight casting shadows around him. He always loved walks in the dark, it felt calmer than golden morning sun, even though he enjoyed that too. Early mornings were fine to George and he would never complain about getting to see a sunrise, but there had always been something different about watching the world’s light leave for the night. Some people might see it as a bad thing, that the night is dangerous or scary, but it meant so much more to George. 

When George was younger he had an old story book about the sun, it was a legend that nobody really believed. George kept it under his mattress where he knew it’d be safe, where he knew he could find it again. The story said that when the sun set, it absorbed all of a person’s mistakes, frustrations, and bad memories with it. That it was so hot from all of the rage and sad things that had happened in a day. The sun would set and everyone’s problems would be gone for the night, that’s how people in tough situations kept living on. George wished it was that simple, he wished it were true, and even though it wasn’t he found comfort in the story when he was little. 

In the darkness you can’t see much, it’s like you're alone with no one but yourself. Nothing but air around you, earth under you, and if you're lucky a roof above your head with four walls. It was something George was always thankful for, but he was still exhilarated when he got out of his parents reach, when he didn’t have to stay there anymore, when he started following the sun. _Just to see why my sadness didn’t go with it,_ he told himself. Because no matter who he had, or what he had, (and he had a lot of great things and people), he was always missing something. Someone? He didn’t know yet. But he didn’t want what his family offered and they didn’t want who he was. 

_Bet you’re happy now._ He thought bitterly. George never wanted to be a necromancer, but it was the family legacy and everyone knew it. When he got out he tried to teach himself the ways of a paladin, so he could be a strong fighter and healer at the same time, but he didn’t have the money for supplies or education. He made no progress on his own. He’d failed. And it hurt him, it kept him tied down for a while, kept him suffocating in plain air because a realization hit. That he would never be who he wanted to be, and he’d never find what he wanted to find. George was stuck in a situation where he could go back and live a good life, or look for something more with the risk of dying alone in failure. He’d never been on his own. _Now I like it on my own. The story lied to me, anger never leaves, sadness sticks, frustration kills. And it’s easier alone._ The best he could do was learn other spells as a wizard. He used what he already knew to find work, like ridding abandoned buildings of goblin bands, or wererats with magic. He had dreams of saving kids like himself from living a life that wasn’t their own. He was going to open a school. He was going to make it free somehow. _But it never happened and it never will. Why didn’t my sadness leave every night? Why doesn’t it? Where’s my sun?_

The story, the more George thought about it, might not have been so comforting after all. It was a lie they told kids. It was a story he believed for as long as he could. He used to think it was a symbol of hope, that someday he’d make it. He read the thin book over and over some nights. He wished he’d burned it now. Darkness seemed to mean something different in that moment. _At least I can’t see myself in the dark. Can’t see the mess I’ve become._ George hadn’t had a string of thoughts like this invade his mind in a long time. What changed? 

  
“George?” Dream placed a hand on George’s shoulder.  
  
“What?” George shot. Dream lifted his eyebrows and immediately took his hand off.  
  
“You just looked…”  
  
“Cranky,” Sapnap cut in. Earning a glare from Dream.  
  
“Sorry.” George mumbled, turning his head back out of the light so he couldn’t be looked in the eyes anymore.  
  
“We should take a break now, it’s halfway through the shift,” Dream suggested. George didn’t care what they did, he was just grateful that Dream snapped him out of the deep hole he was spiraling down. He was shaken up, he honestly thought that he was going to be over all of that soon. Maybe seeing Dream and Sapnap fight like they did reminded him a bit of what he wanted. George was at peace with himself before he got that letter from Eret, he even saw it as an opportunity to be a part of something bigger, but now he felt overwhelmed.  


The three found a small cave to stay in, it ended a few feet in. They sat under it eating and talking, resting up. Dream and Sapnap didn’t bother to ask what George had been thinking about, everyone was too focused on their food and making sure nothing crept into their cave. They recharged their energy for a bit and were off again, deeper into the surrounding forest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad that a few people are enjoying this so far! Please let me know if there are some warnings I should be using at the beginning. Thanks for the support!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort. All my favorites. Getting into more backstory now ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of puking, violence

  
“Oh my goooooods this sucks, we still have three hours of this.” Sapnap groaned.  
  
“Stop complaining, you’ve been through worse, remember?” Dream shoved him, hinting at a specific incident, George was sure.  
  
“But I was actually doing more than just walking around aimlessly looking for something to fight.”  
  
“Yeah like trying to hold your tears in,” Dream cackled.  
  
“Wait what?” George asked.  
  
“I got really hurt once and he cried,” Dream whispered to George, close enough so that his warm breath could be felt traveling down his neck. _Don’t shiver._  
  
“I heard that asshole. Not true. You were the one clinging onto me.”  
  
“Shut up,” Dream said playfully. George was confused, he wanted to hear more about their adventures together. It hit him how good of friends they must be and it made him sad to think that they’d all go their separate ways when this whole thing was over. Or maybe they wouldn’t… but he’d never be as close to Dream as Sapnap was.  
  
“The fear in your eyes, man you were scared like a little baby,” Sapnap poked at him.  
  
“My organs were practically falling out of my stomach, of course I was scared!” Dream yelled, trying to defend his pride.  
  
“Woah what? How did that happen? George asked.  
  
“This idiot,” Sapnap started, “jumped in front of a high-level sunburst spell for me.”  
  
“Yeah you’re welcome. That was before your fireproof armor.” _Fireproof armor?_  
  
“Gods, if Bad hadn’t found us you’d be gone. You’re so stupid.”  
  
“Who’s Bad?” _Another adventurer like them?_  
  
“Bad is… well bad is a demon. Angel? A friend who used a lot of his magic and energy to keep my insides from leaking out everywhere in that cavern,” Dream explained. “He’ll be here for patrols actually, but he lives far from Neverpoint.” _A demon-angel-friend, that’s new._.  
  
“Dream and I were supposed to clear out a watery cave near a swamp that had a few bullywugs in it. Except there were more than a few, and a very powerful group of Wizards. Bad was the one who sent us there… when we didn’t come back in time he got worried.”  
  
“Yeah we were only looking for a small job, for more experience before we fought bigger battles,” he laughed, “and man, we certainly experience a lot.”  
  
“Sounds… traumatizing. But you guys split up right? You said it had been a while since you’d seen each other.” George wondered why they weren’t together while in Neverpoint.  
  
“Yeah… we had a bit of a falling out I guess but, I think we’re both just happy to see each other again,” Dream said, looking shyly to Sapnap for confirmation, who gave him a look that meant so much more than what George could tell.  
  
“Do you mind me asking what you fought about? Seeing how you are around each other now makes it difficult to imagine you fighting to the point where you leave each other.”  
  
“Well Dreamy boy here-” _Dreamy boy…_  
  
“Sapnap.” Dream warned. _Oh no, did I start something? I didn’t mean to._  
  
“No?” Sapnap raised an eyebrow. He managed to ask a question deeper than the ocean with one word, and George couldn’t decipher what it was. _No you don’t want to start this again? No you don’t trust George? No you just don’t want to talk about it?_  
  
“Not yet.”  
  
 _No you’re not ready to dig it all back up._  
  
“Okay.”  
  
Sadly it seemed it was going to come up again anyways.  
  
  
  
  
  
  


George didn’t push, didn’t ask anymore questions, but did notice silent conversations happening between Sapnap and Dream. It wasn’t awkward really, but there was a lot that needed to be said and resolved. The energy between them all was heavy, it made them eager to get their shift over with. More so than before. They were nearing the sixth hour, all weary and wondering when the next fight would happen. 

George was distracted though. Not watching the dense clusters of trees around him but the dancing of warm colours in the sky. They swirled together like they were being stirred, deep reds and happy yellows painted a comfortable tint over the forest. The sun made George’s eyes glow tawny, something Dream noticed when he glanced in his direction. George scanned the skies then discretely moved his gaze to Dream who’s hood was down. It revealed tufts of fluffy luminous hair, George wanted to reach out and ruffle it. 

He wasn’t ready to have Sapnap’s arm ram into his chest. 

  
“Shush.” Sapnap had stopped Dream too. “I think we’re about to have a battle fellas,” he whispered. George heard nothing. Dream saw nothing, what was Sapnap talking about?  
  
“I only see trees,” Dream whispered.  
  
“Yeah. I know.”  
  
“What? But-” Dream was abruptly flung ten meters in front of the group, only to be slammed into the ground in mid air by a thick… branch?  
  
“Dammit there’s more than one!” Sapnap barked and whirled around to face the treant behind them. He lit up his fire sword with a grin, Dream mumbled behind him. George watched with anxiety as Dream failed to get up, but managed to roll before the slam attack of the treant crushed him. Dream was drowsy, his vision fading in and out. He relied on his ears to hear where the attacks were coming from and ignored the warm trickle running down his neck.  


George sprinted to his aid, casting a wave of acid splashes onto the treant. He didn’t have much of a plan aside from distracting the creature long enough for Dream to get away. Though, this was his chance to cast the fireball. He had to keep a bit of a distance. Dream made it to his feet and stumbled back to George, who steadied him before concentrating on his spell. George’s hands heated up like metal in the sun as he spun them around each other, but it didn’t hurt, he felt energized by it. This was George’s second favorite spell, he’d become a master at casting it and barely had to prepare. He high-fived the air in front of him. An explosion of raging heat and wiggling lines in George’s vision made him laugh in excitement. 

George noticed Dream no longer at his side, and wasted no time turning away from the treant to look for him. He heard the ball of flames connect with the beast, earning a pained whistling scream. Dream and Sapnap were dueling the other, but didn’t see a third to their left. George, now on a roll, hastily fireballed that one too. Sapnap yelped in surprise at the boom to his left and risked a look over there, the third Treant was burning before his eyes, going black, ashes peeling off of it. He knew it was George. 

Dream was losing his footing and only got one slice out of the monster’s bulky arm before collapsing. He was only half conscious. George had his attention back on the Treant he’d hit first, he was berating it with magic missiles until it crumpled into nothing. He heard Sapnap call for Dream and whipped his head around in time to see the fire sword being flung from his hand. Sapnap tumbled and landed next to a very shaky Dream, who had his hand extended towards the treant. _Is he spell casting?_. Sapnap wrenched Dream’s arm down and cursed at him, the creature raised its hands to land a fatal blow on the two vulnerable fighters, but George was faster. His last fireball flailed over their heads and into the tree beast. Sapnap shielded Dream as best as he could from the blast. 

The treant roared and fell backwards from the force of the fireball, it writhed in pain and went silent. George rushed to kneel next to his party members. Sapnap was tapping the side of Dream’s mask and mumbling something, George only caught a few words. 

  
“Bitch… always gotta… bloodhunter bullshit.”  
  
“Sapnap?”  
  
“Stupid… this is why…”  
  
“Sapnap!” George shoved him.  
  
“Sorry,” Sapnap’s angered expression lifted when Dream’s shifted. Sapnap kept a hand on his shoulder.  
  
“Dream?” George asked, about to do the same, but thought better of it.  
  
“No doubt he’s concussed. Two critical blows like that?” Sapnap considered removing the mask to look at his eyes, he sighed and started pulling at it. Dream sluggishly pushed Sapnap’s hands away.  
  
“Quit being stubborn and let me look,” Sapnap tried to sound firm, but the concern in his voice didn’t go unnoticed.  
  
“Don’t. Please,” Dream got a better hold on Sapnap’s wrists, but couldn’t keep it for long.  
  
“George I need you to look away,” Sapnap said almost pleadingly. George didn’t hesitate. Sapnap looked his friend over quickly and noticed his dilated pupils.  
  
“This would be a good time to use one of those healing potions,” Sapnap confirmed.  
  
“You don’t think he’ll puke it up?”  
  
“Good point, but it might take effect fast enough. Dream what do you think?” He was trying to keep Dream engaged and awake by asking him, there wasn’t a very clear answer though. “Potion it is.”  


Sapnap helped Dream sit up against a tree, who was looking at George the whole time. Or, he was until he felt Sapnap run a hand through his hair on the side. There was blood on the tip of his fingers. They both cringed. George heard the pop of a bottle cork followed by a few coughs. It was silent for a minute, no gagging or puking. George sat back in relief, but jumped at the sound of Sapnap’s voice. 

  
“Were you actually gonna do that? Right in front of me? You’re so fu-”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
“Are you?”  
  
“No. Not really.”  
  
“You’re safe to look George.” Sapnap huffed.  
  
“Good enough to keep moving?” George asked.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“No.”  
  
They replied in sync  
  
“Sap, I’m healed now, we can go.”  
  
“I’m not done yelling at you yet,” he half-joked.  
  
 _Looks like mom and dad are fighting_  
  
“You’re overreacting, this is not the time.” Dream successfully pushed himself up despite Sapnap fighting him.  
  
“Someone’s gonna have to explain this drama to me because I don’t have the patience for sissy fights,” George said.  
  
“We’ll explain it eventually, maybe when the shift’s over,” Dream said. Sapnap looked satisfied and buried his anger for now. _What was Dream about to do that would piss Sapnap off so much?_  
  
  
  
  
  


They were nearly done looping their way around back to Neverpoint’s walls. They could see it in the distance. They were each exhausted, concerned for each other, and angry with each other. Though, most of those emotions were forgotten and replaced with pride as they strode through the gates. The portcullis was opened by two guards, and inside a small crowd of citizens were there to greet them. Some cheered, most said thank you, and it made everything feel a little better. George had been thanked by people he’d helped, but never so many. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to do this kind of work forever. The faces on the kingdom’s people were relieved and grateful. He didn’t love the attention, but he loved knowing that he did something right. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There has been more support than I could ever ask for! Thanks for all the nice comments. This chapter came out way earlier than it was supposed to, I just got in the writing mood and went for it. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More romance-based chapter. Dream and George spend some quality time talking. Sapnap notices how George squirms around Dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Kinda self harm? Not really but I wanted to be safe. 
> 
> This chapter makes me want to change the title of this story but I can't decide.  
> "Cingulomania" vs "In Your Eyes I See a Sparkle"  
> I'll most likely keep it how it is because of a specific scene in the future, but who knows. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this one!

George busted through the barracks room door and tossed his bag across the room. He paid no mind to the glass bottles and equipment inside, the bed was calling to him. He sat down and waited to see what the others were going to do before trying to fall asleep. Dream wasted no time removing his armor. George watched the shoulder pads tumble off, the bracers slip off, his chest plate clatter to the floor. Dream pulled his cloak off with a huff, and then his undershirt. _Oh gods…_ Sweat gleamed off of his chest, George couldn’t stop staring as Dream ran a hand through his hair. His bicep flexed. George blushed harder with every muscle twitch. He pretended not to look. 

He completely forgot about Sapnap being in the room, who chuckled at George’s staring. It woke him up out of his trance, he shifted so one leg was crossed over the other, and he tried to seem dignified. It only made Sapnap cackle harder. Dream looked up in confusion, an unseen smirk under his mask, he looked from George to Sapnap. 

  
“What?” He asked.  
  
“Nothing- Nothing!” George said through nervous laughter, and pointed looks at Sapnap.  
  
“I’ll fill in the report and take it in,” Sapnap volunteered. Dream turned away again and Sapnap winked at George.  
  
“I’d like to do it, take a walk through the city,” George said.  
  
“Too late, I’m going. Gives you and Dream time to talk.” He winked again, more exaggerated.  
  
“Yeah I have to tell you a few things,” Dream agreed. George squirmed in his seat and finally stood up to take his cloak off and unpack his bag. He was on edge now, left alone with Dream. What if he said something he’d regret?  


Sapnap didn’t bother to remove any of his gear yet, he just put his bag down and was off with the report. Dream pulled a chair out at the table for George, and then sat down himself. George resisted the urge to bounce his leg and move around. It was only a conversation. _Why wouldn’t he just put a shirt on again?_

  
“You seem distracted,” Dream leaned back in his seat.  
  
“I’m tired.”  
  
“Then I’ll explain quickly,” Dream started. George, in that moment, was grateful for the mask, because he knew that if he was looking into Dream’s eyes, the butterflies in his stomach would make him feel like he’s floating. Or he’d puke. One or the other.  


Dream started simply, talking about how he and Sapnap met. Dream showed up on Sapnap’s doorstep, hungry and desperate for shelter. After Sapnap helped him he stayed for a while, he taught Sapnap how to use a sword, taught him about magic and it changed his life. Sapnap and Dream were best friends ever since, but Dream kept a secret. That he was a bloodhunter. And one day Sapnap found out. 

  
“What does that mean?” George asked.  
  
“Put simply, I use my own life force to injure my enemies,” Dream explained with a frown.  
  
“And so it hurts you?”  
  
“Yeah sometimes. Depends on how much I want to hurt my opponent, and what I did to them. I also use blood curses occasionally… I use my own blood to do it." George hesitated, usually he’d search someone’s face to read the room before he spoke, but he couldn’t in this case.  
  
“Is it effective?”  
  
“It is.”  
  
“Then I think that’s extremely impressive of you. It’s brave,” George said with a little more emotion than intended. _I would do magic like that._ He admired Dream more for this, so was the other man so nervous looking?  
  
“You think?” Dream seemed to perk up, George openly grinned.  
  
“Yeah. Not everyone would be able to do that,” George treaded lightly with his next words, “Is it teachable? I mean is it possible to-”  
  
“No,” Dream sputtered, “it’s not.” George was taken aback by the sudden change in the room’s atmosphere.  
  
“Why?” He asked, almost offended.  
  
“That’s not me saying you couldn’t learn!” Dream stammered, “just that I couldn’t teach you.”  
  
“I think you’d be a great teacher,” George said impulsively.  
  
“I don’t think so,” Dream chuckled.  
  
“Why not? You’re patient, good at what you do, and from what I can tell, have a lot of experience.”  
  
“Yeah… but not with bloodhunting.”  
  
“That wasn’t very enthusiastic,” George didn’t know whether to be frustrated or allow himself to be even more enamored by the man sitting in front of him. The way he sat was powerful, the way he spoke was engaging and high energy, until he got serious and it was articulate, persuasive.  
  
“I don’t want to teach someone how to hurt themselves for others,” Dream confesses.  
  
“But you can let yourself do it?”  
  
“Call me hypocritical.”  
  
“So Sapnap doesn’t like it when you do that because…?” George thought he understood, but Dream knew what he was doing when he did his magic, so why did Sapnap worry so much?  
  
“There have been times when I’ve gone too far,” he hesitated, “dropped a lot of blood, pushed too hard, and drained too much.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“I don’t do it as much anymore. Sap started getting fed up when I used it in every fight, sometimes protected him with it, and he confronted me,” Dream sighed, maybe with guilt, or maybe because he didn’t feel understood by his friend.  
  
“And why do you do it at all?” George asked, assuming it was going to be a hard question to answer, and was pleasantly surprised by what he heard instead.  
  
“It’s just how I was brought up, and I never thought it was a problem,” Dream shifted his mask up a bit, accidentally revealing his bottom lip for a second.. _It looked so soft._ “I still don’t think it’s an issue. As a bloodhunter I was a part of an order, we were like a family and they taught me most of what I know. I was always told it was an honor to give myself up to the cause. The ‘fight against the darkness’ is what they called it.”  
  
“It’s honorable to help others,” George agreed, “do you still keep in touch with them?”  
  
“No.” Dream tilted his head down, his powerful demeanor leaving momentarily before he adjusted again.  
  
“Can I ask why?” George wanted to learn about Dream, wanted to know everything. Nobody had ever fascinated him like this before. Every adventurer always wants to brag about their glory and treasure, but not this one. He wasn’t nervous anymore either. Well, not in the same way. Talking to Dream made him feel safe. His voice was soothing and he seemed so genuine. The butterflies hadn’t gone though.  
  
“I don’t want to associate with them anymore. They, uh, did some bad things to their members. For the most part they really were good people… I think I just got unlucky.”  
  
“What’d they do to you?” George asked, hoping he wasn’t pushing too far. He didn’t want to ruin what they had going on, a real conversation about morals and life. Something nobody’s ever talked to him about before. It was always _“Just do what you want, get what you want, and you’ll be happy son. Other people don’t care about you so why care about them right?”_  
  
“Nothing really, I just saw some bad stuff.” Dream insisted. It was clear that he didn’t want to share much, and that he never really wanted to tell George any of this anyways. It made George feel slightly guilty.  
  
“So you didn’t want to tell me you were a bloodhunter because..?”  
  
“Thought you’d be disgusted, or scared, I dunno,” Dream stared at George from under his mask, studying his eyes, searching for something in them. Some sparkle of truth, that maybe he wasn’t just spitting out lies. That, maybe, he wasn’t like the people afraid of those who differ from the rest. “Guess I was stupid to think that. You’re not like that.” And he found what he was looking for.  
  
“You barely know me.”  
  
“You can tell a lot about a person when you fight by their side. And you can see it in their eyes if you’re good enough to recognize it.” Dream considered removing his mask then and there, to look at his new friend directly. Which would have been crazy though right? He’s never shown his face to someone so quickly.  
  
“What do you mean by ‘it’? What do you look for in my eyes?”  


Dream smirked, unsure of how to explain it. Maybe he was crazy. Did he see something in Sapnap? Sapnap was his closest friend. He only saw fire in that man’s eyes… But what was it in George? He couldn’t figure it out. 

  
“A sparkle.”  
  
“What?”  


Dream laughed lightly, and then harder as he noticed George’s blushing. _Did he just flirt with me? Was that intentional. Oh gods, so many mixed signals. He sees me blushing. Oh gods oh gods oh gods-_

  
“Tell me a bit about you though. How’d you get into wizardry?” Dream asked to George’s relief. He needed to focus on something other than Dream’s abs... and v-line.  
  
“I uh,” he cleared his throat, “I actually never wanted to be a wizard, I was hoping to be a paladin but it never happened.”  
  
“It’s not too late,” Dream said.  
  
“Yeah. It is. I don’t believe in deities anymore. Mine never did anything for me,” George admitted, looking disappointed in himself.  
  
“But wizardry, that’s pretty awesome too don’t you think?”  
  
“I want to be able to fight up close, with weapons.”  


Dream pondered what to say, when something lit up in his mind. He couldn’t bring himself to make George a bloodhunter but he could probably show him a few things.

  
“I can teach you how to fight. We’ll be here awhile won't we? We have free time.”  
  
“Really?” George’s face lifted, but upon looking at Dream again he reddened.  
  
“Yeah, it’ll be fun to try. Not bloodhunting… but basic sword training or even, with a staff. We’ll see if you were right about my teaching skills.”  
  
“That'd be great.”  
  
“We can start tomorrow then, after our patrol.”  
  
“Okay,” George’s smile broke through his defenses, he had to get up and walk away to keep Dream from seeing his boyish grin and rosy face.  
  
“George?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Thanks for understanding.”  


George’s heart fluttered. _Did he really think I’d be afraid of him? Or disgusted. I could never be anything other than infatuated._ He wanted to talk to Dream more. Maybe he’d ask about the mask, or something about Sapnap. It’d been going well. Or maybe he’d tell Dream a few deep secrets of his own past, to close the emotional gap still between them. There was more he could learn, more he could fall in love with. _Shut up._ George scolded himself. _You’ve known him two days. Stop it. You’re acting like you did with the bookkeeper. You’re not fourteen anymore. Stop._

__  
“It’s no problem. I’m glad you told me all of this,” George said. Before he could ask anything Sapnap came barging in, soaking wet. The sound of pounding rain behind him, shut out as he closed the door. He shook his head, hair flinging cold water across the room. The walk must not have been long. Or he ran to escape the rain.  
  
“Glad we got back from patrol before the rain started, I feel bad for the people going out now,” Sapnap laughed.  
  
“I like rain,” George said.  
  
“Not for eight hours straight you don’t,” Sapnap argued, ripping his armor off, letting it clatter to the floor.  
  
“Guess not,” George agreed.  
  
“So Dream told you?”  
  
“I did. Sap, I’m sorry but we’ve talked about this before,” Dream said.  
  
“I know. I’m sorry too. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen you and I didn’t want-”  
  
“I know. I won’t let it happen like that again.”  
_ _

Sapnap nodded, and George shifted his gaze from one friend to the other. Sapnap grabbed a towel from the bathroom and started to dry off his hair. Dream got up from the table and grabbed some other clothes to change into. George saw this as his opportunity to get some rest, seen as how all of the deep-talk was over. For now. He too changed, and fell asleep within minutes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can never thank you guys enough for the support. Almost 1000 reads! That's like... 1000 more than I thought I'd get. So thank you! I really appreciate the feedback and positive comments :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party has a little bit of down time, after George uses a bit of magic to identify the black amulets, they all go to a tavern for something to drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for implied sexual content.  
> I've never written that sort of thing before so bare with me.  
> Sorry this took a whole month to get out, thanks for being patient with me :)

George’s eyes flutter open. Aureate lines of sunlight were painted over his bed, barely filtered by the thin window blind. The warm tint of the room and velvety sheets against George’s toes made him want to sink into the world of sleep forever. He shifted from his side to his back and stared at the wooden ceiling beams. He thought about how nice it would be to hang a chair from one and sit in the sun reading. George lifted his arms over the fluffy covers and crossed them over his stomach. 

He watched dust drift through the air and thought about reaching out to catch some. He used to do this as a kid, sit in silence for a while worrying about nothing, aimless thoughts circulating. Just letting the tenderness of morning sink in. Except it was the afternoon and George wasn’t that little boy anymore. He’d just fought a bunch of monsters, he’d just done what he dreamt of doing when he was younger. So much had changed for George that moments like these felt nothing like they used too. It was Deja vu, evocative, a glimpse at the past even. Because eventually he started thinking about other things. Things little boys shouldn’t think about. Like if he were to die on his next shift, or what he would do if his party members were all incapacitated. How would he save them? And certain thoughts about a certain someone. 

Nostalgic thinking evolved into stressful ‘What-ifs?’ and ‘hows’. _What if I get someone killed? How am I supposed to defend a kingdom? What if I’m dead weight? Do Dream and Sapnap even need me?_ George clenched his jaw. This always happened to him. He’d never been able to think happy thoughts without being interrupted by worry. George gave up on watching the dust and closed his eyes with a sigh. He needed something to do, something that made him feel useful. An idea popped into his head. 

George flicked the covers off and sat for a minute on the edge of his bed. He looked at Sapnap, sleeping messily in a knot of sheets, and Dream on his stomach with a pillow tucked under his chest. He was hugging it tight and his face was turned away from George. _Does he really sleep in that mask?_ The white circle was crooked on Dream’s head but none of his face was visible from George’s angle anyway. _What if it comes off in a fight?_

George stood up to rummage through his bag for one of the black amulets they took off the orcs. It was cracked more than before and some of the shards fell to the bottom of his bag. He held it cautiously and took it to the dark wood table, he brought his main spellbook too and sat in the chair facing away from the others. He hoped they wouldn’t wake up anytime soon because he needed silence to concentrate. 

George placed the black amulet at the center of the table. He crossed his legs in his chair and fixed his posture. He flipped the pages of his spellbook until he landed on the identify section. It was complicated and might not work, but hopefully it would give them some information. George read through the incantation once and pulled out a small white pearl followed by an owl’s feather. George reread the incantation and focused on the objects in front of him. 

George breathed with rhythm and control, deep and long, forgetting the outside world like he was taught to. He drew in a particularly full breath and felt along the cracks of the black amulet. He almost immediately dropped it, startled by the energy emanating off of the gem inside. George recomposed himself and searched deeper, unable to associate anything with the whiff of energy he got. He traced his fingers along the back and over the chains attached to the amulet. 

As hard as a punch to the gut, it hit him. Details came pooling in. It overwhelmed him. Concepts and specific words came to mind in flurries. _Dracolich. Ender plane. Baahguo?_ George flinched. _Geas-Masso. Jschlatt._ George gasped and dropped the amulet. He whirled around to see if he'd woken anyone up, a bleary-eyed Sapnap stared at him, only half of his face showing. 

  
"Sorry," George whispered, a slight waver in his voice.  
  
"What're you doing?" Sapnap grumbled.  
  
"Go back to sleep I'll tell you later,” George said, voice lined with embarrassment. The gem scared him, it whispered the words to him, but sounded shaky, unstable, not in a scared way, in a crazy way. He was learning what he needed to but something told him he'd regret getting involved more than he had too.  


George didn’t want to touch the amulet again, not yet. He left it sitting on the table and gathered his feather and pearl. He found a notebook, leather and thin enough to fit in his cloak's inner pocket. He wrote the words down and what he understood from them, things started to click and the mystery of the orc’s loyalty was pretty much solved. It was a spell like they thought. Geas… but a variant of it, modified by someone powerful. A regular Geas spell can control any creature within sight with only a few specific commands: approach, drop, flee, grovel, and halt. But this spell can do anything. 

Normally the Geas spell could be ended by counterspells such as remove curse or greater restoration but as George understood, the only way to break the spell was to shatter it’s tethering item. In this case, the black amulets. Geas-Masso wasn’t a variant George recognized, it was more powerful. It reminded him of the kind of spell his father dreamed of creating, which made him even more grateful he was able to be in Neverpoint instead of having to run back to them. _“You know you won’t last long without us, we taught you everything,” dad always said. Funny, all I remember him teaching me was how to hurt people, and last time I checked, that’s worthless._

Although not crystal clear, George was fairly certain that Jschlatt was the one who created this variant of Geas, which frightened George. He wrote more. _Dracolisk. What even is that?_ George couldn’t picture the creature. _Ender plane. Gods, I don’t know enough about the planes._ And Baahguo, George figured it was a place, or maybe a person’s name? It couldn’t have been that important because he didn’t get much information on it from the identify spell. Jschlatt, he learned a small bit about Jschlatt. He wasn’t fully human. An image of the man flashed before George’s eyes briefly. He saw goat horns and fiery red-orange eyes. 

  
“What’s a Dracolisk?” Dream asked, leaning over George’s shoulder uncomfortably close to his face, or… comfortably close? Dream was silent in walking up behind him, he spoke softly with a grin. “Did I startle you?”  
  
“No.” George folded his notebook up and got up from his seat, out from under the towering figure of Dream.  
  
“You had something about Jschlatt there, what’d you figure out?” Dream asked, half following George round as he packed and organized his things.  
  
“I identified the amulet. I’ll tell you about it when Sapnap wakes up.”  
  
“Okay.” Dream smirked and took a pillow off of Sapnap’s bed. He raised it high in the air and brought it down using his body weight directly over Sapnap’s chest and face. At first there was no movement.  
  
“Did you kill him?” George asked. Then they heard a faint, gravely voice.  
  
“The thing I like the most about you Dream, is that you’ll die one day,” Sapnap scowled, he opened his eyes slowly to glare at the masked man who was backing away with his hands up.  
  
“George has important information to tell us.”  
  
“Oh so this is your fault?” Sapnap sat up to face George.  
  
“I didn’t tell him to wake you up, he’s just an idiot,” George argued.  
  
“You both love me,” Dream joked. _More than you know. Well… I wouldn’t say love. No that’s childish. He’s just really generous, and good at fighting, and strong, and… and really nice to be close to…_ George made himself blush. He turned away from the others pretending to look for something.  
“So what’s this information then?” Sapnap asked, “It better be good.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  


George went over everything he gathered from the amulet with the others. They didn’t understand anymore than he did. They decided to get out in the city, and tell Eret what George had discovered, but Sapnap suggested going to the tavern he and Dream had passed on their first walk around. It was called The Waiting Goose, and it was said that they had an amazing brewmaster who could make a drink out of any theme you gave them. Dream didn’t seem too keen on drinking but he agreed to go anyway. 

The tavern was well kept and decorated, it was full of humanoids of different races such as elves, gnomes, dwarfs and more. George was about to say they should leave since there were no spots, but Sapnap and Dream waved to a group in the corner, they started heading over. There were three men sitting at the table grinning… well two of them were. The man on the right of the table wore the mask of a pig, ornate and well made. He wore a cape, and there was a sizable sword leaning against his leg with ruby and jet inlay. The one at the center, extremely smiley, wore robes of blues, purples, oranges, and greens. _Clearly another wizard._ The last on the left was grinning although it was hard to see his face from under the hood of his dark blue cloak, he too must have been a wizard. 

  
“Hey you’ve got a new guy this time,” the one on the left said.  
  
“Quackity,” Sapnap started, “this is George. George, this is Quackity, Karl, and Technoblade.” Technoblade, the one with the pig mask just nodded.  
“Nice to meet you,” Karl said, “pull some chairs over, drink with us.”  
  
“How do you all know each other?” George asked, sliding a seat up.  
  
“We met them last time we came out here, they have the same shifts we do, they cover the second section of Neverpoint’s territory,” Dream explained.  
  
“I see. How did you guys find patrol?” George asked them.  
  
“Exhausting,” Karl chuckled, “but exciting.”  


The group sat there chatting about what they’d experienced, George even told them about the black gem amulets. After a few drinks everyone started to loosen up, they’d laugh and cause a commotion. Curious looks were cast in their direction but the group didn’t mind, they were having a good time. Even Technoblade. 

George kept noticing some… curious behavior from Sapnap, Karl and Quackity. He wasn’t oblivious to the flirting going on, they weren’t even hiding it. It’s like Sapnap and Quackity were competing to see who could make Karl the brightest shade of red. 

  
“Don’t you think you should take it down a notch guys?” Dream laughed.  
  
“What? You, jealous?” Sapnap teased.  
  
“Why would I ever be jealous? I’ve got him,” Dream gestured to George, who oh so gracefully sputtered, nearly spitting his drink out.  
  
“What?”  
  
Dream leaned closer to him, jokingly. George pulled back, cheeks heating up. “Geooorge.”  
  
“Shut up,” George shoved him and forced a laugh.  
  
“I can work with hard to get,” Dream bit his bottom lip after shoving the mask up enough to show his mouth. _Is he serious? Right in front of everyone like this? Idiot. Idiot. Gods he’s stupid and- and very attractive... but stupid._  
  
“You couldn’t handle me,” George challenged.  
  
“Oh you don’t think?”  
  
“I’m sure of it.” George crossed his arms, he leaned back with his chin held high. He was surprised by his burst of confidence.  
  
“Wait until we get out of here,” Dream said. Sapnap’s small ‘ooooh’ could barely be heard over George’s heartbeat in his own ears.  
  
“Wait until I get my Hold Person spell,” George countered.  
  
“I don’t need magic to keep you held down.”  
  
“Oh my god!” Sapnap howled with laughter, soon joined by the others, George however wasn’t laughing. He was too busy trying to come up with something snarky, but he was left speechless. Dream pulled his mask back down in subtle victory. George huffed and turned away to hide his embarrassment.  


Everything kept getting crazier from there as the Karl, Quackity, Sapnap situation escalated. Technoblade seemed very out of place, nobody dared flirt with him, but he was somewhat amused. Dream worried he’d made George uncomfortable. The truth was that George almost wished it went on longer. He laughed at himself for being so naïve. He really did like and admire Dream. But he could handle being just friends. Couldn’t he? Sticking to flirtatious jokes, recognizing that it all meant nothing. _I can do that._

They had another few hours before their next shift, Dream had to convince Sapnap to leave the tavern before he drank too much, saying that he needed to be at 100% for their patrol. The two groups walked back to the castle together, and split up in the barracks hallway. It was dark out, and Neverpoint was beautifully lit by the moon and Kingdom lights. The walk back was pleasant, George was talking to Dream the entire time about spells and which ones they thought would be the most useful for them on patrol so George could prepare them. 

Sapnap went back to sleep when they got to their room, Dream did some stretching and sword exercises. George could admit that it was distracting, the way Dream was casually showing his muscles off right in front of his bed, but he managed to make it through all of his memorizing. He felt prepared for the next shift, he thought he had a better understanding of what to expect. He’d only just remembered that they’d forgotten to tell Eret about the amulets and Jschlatt. George sighed and put his shoes on to go deliver the information, Dream offered to go with him but George said he’d only be a minute. When he came back he said that Eret wanted to move them to the third section of Neverpoint’s borders. 

  
“Why did they move us?” Dream asked.  
  
“Eret said my identify spell would be useful in some of the abandoned buildings, and on weird creatures that keep showing up there,” George explained.  
  
“Faire enough. You have it ready?”  
  
“I have two.”  
  
“Great, can’t wait to see you in action,” Dream smirked.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave feedback or things you might want to see in the future.  
> As always, thanks for reading :)


End file.
